Tarrytown Music Hall is a gorgeous venue. It has a real old style feel to it, lots of detailing in the architecture and a cool mural painted way up above the stage where the wall meets the ceiling. I'm guessing capacity was around 1,500. We were on the floor in row K right in the middle, great view from anywhere in the venue though really.

Last time I saw Mike Band was at the Webster Hall, the vibe there was tense and awkward really. It's crazy how much the venue and settings of the show changes the vibe of the crowd/overall show experience, because Tarrytown was a complete opposite feel to me. It was welcoming feeling, lots of chatting and not many overly-intoxicated/spun out-wooks there. The crowd was generally much older than my brother and I (I'm 22 he is 19), which I liked because people were more attentive and quiet than like the middle of SPAC lawn for a phish show.

Long Black line was a rather mellow opener, but I liked how in-tune with eachother they sounded right out of the gates. Scott sounded very in control during his solo, great lines and soulful bends. Not a quite a rager, but it set the mood for the attentiveness desired for the upcoming jams.

I need to mention here how great the sound was in that place as well. Everyone cut through the mix enough to be able to shift your focus from one player to another with ease, really appreciated this during the "group jams" as opposed to solo-style type I style jamming.

Cruel World was solid. Yarmouth was cool hearing how Scott jammed over it, using the voicebox effect (i think thats what its called) throughout the jam. Different World and Pretty Boy Floyd were solid as well, nothing particularly stands out about them in my memory.

Spock's was cool to hear again (called myself a noob for not knowing what it was when they played it at Webster Hall). Appreciated it much more knowing what it was this time around haha.

I really like the song Face, grooved to that one hard haha. The chord progression just resonates with me for some reason, love the tension in it. And then it segued into my favorite stand-along song of the night and one of my favorite live music moments to date...

Peel blew my mind. Type II awesomeness, hose that just kept flowing. I can't really put it into words... Overwhelmingly blissful group jamming, almost grateful dead esque in the sense that there wasn't really one person leading the jam. Polyphonic improvisational awesomeness!!! If there was a release of this show I would buy it just for this alone!

After that while everyone was still high from the hose jam that just ensued, the unexpected happened...

Going up to the show my brother thought Leo Kottke might sit in with them because he played in town a few days back, so when Mike said he was bringing out a guest to join them we were ready for Leo...

But nope! "A special guest will be joining us... He's an actor..." everyone was waiting in suspense when from out of the back walked Trey Anastasio. The crowd went absolute insane at this point. Completely erupted in howling applause that lingered for a solid minute and a half i'd say before mellowing down.

Trey was playing Scott's Ibanez with the really twangy tone, it was really different hearing him without his signature tone. Cities with Trey was rather fast paced with an extra verse that Phish doesn't use when they play it live (Trey was wide eyed smiling inquisitively at Scott when he was singing this part). Trey wasn't quite warmed up here, honestly not his best playing but still cool to see him up there regardless. I was guessing he wanted to remain humble and such considering the applause for him was already tenfold what it was for the band itself haha. Trey loosened up a little but for Tiny Little World and there was some cool interplay between him and Scott during it's jam, yet still nothing too special in my humble opinion.

Before playing Tiny Little World Mike said they had time for one more song, which I think some people took too literally because come second set about a good chunk of the floor seats were emptied that were once filled. Didn't matter though the night kept going strong, their loss!

I wanted to hear Long Black Line so I was excited to hear that as a second set opener. It was a type-I so-to-say, didn't go off into unrestrained jamming like I was sort of expecting, good rendition none the less.

I love the song Crumblin' Bones, Tom Cleary can really rip it up. He had a great solo and then started thanking the crowd for coming out during the second part of his solo which seemed a little awkwardly placed to me but it was cool seeing something different where most bands wouldn't have placed that kind of thing.

Barton Hollow was great, real southern feel to it. It was my first time hearing it. Reminded me of (dont kill me for saying this) Dave Matthew's Dont Drink the Water and Bartender a little bit.

Angatta is a tune by Craig Myers, the percussionist. Cool to vibe to and not very phish sounding, good to throw in the mix.

Spiral was up there for favorite highlights of the night for me as well. I love that song (and Moss in its entirety) but don't remember too much about it from last night other than it being played and me liking it alot haha.

Jumping had some synchronized jumping up and down in it between Scott, Mike, and Craig. Good song too. After this is where the madness happens!

Traveled Too Far -> She Said She Said -> Tomorrow Never Knows > Are You a Hypnotist?? > Tomorrow Never Knows -> She Said She Said -> Traveled Too Far... Jesus!!!! Such a psychedelic sandwich of trippy tunes. Scott had some crazy wah effects during it. This whole combination of segues was my second favorite part of the show. The jamming was on par with Peel's but broken up and changed more often with the segues between songs. I'm at a loss for words for how trippy and cool this whole thing was!

Say Something was the period at the end of the sentence to end the second set. Nothing stand-out about it, just a good way to end the set to me.

Soulfood Man -> Alphabet Street was funky and rhythmic. Todd stood out a little bit more here, along with Gordo's slapping. A nice groovy end to a great show!

After the show Mike went out the the merch stand per usual.

Recap: Peel was my favorite jam of the night. The Set 2 sandwich was especially psychedelic and fun to hear. The crowd went batshit crazy when Trey came out. Tom Cleary ripped on his solo's. Scott sounded very in control. Great venue, great sound, great show!

When I walked in to this show, the only Mike solo stuff I knew was Ether, Yarmouth Road and Say Something. I hadn't heard any of his side-project albums and this was my first time at anything Phish-related where I didn't recognize a song within the first couple of notes. So it was nice to start off with that one piece of familiarity.

The first five songs were great. Ether was a great chill beginning and Cruel World allowed their keys player to show his chops. I was particularly impressed with Pretty Boyd Floyd. The first five songs, however great, were a little up and down with Yarmouth Road really standing out as a song that didn't quite keep up the jam energy. Its Reggae-light feel fits well as a breather or early first set piece, but here it disrupted the fun intensity coming out of Cruel World. Cruel World and Different World were both hot for this Mike noob.

Spocks Brain was...interesting. The song itself came across as a little self-indulgent. It was fun for those of fans around long enough to know the song, but when you hear it, its easy to see why the song never really found a permanent home in the Phish set list. But as Spocks Brain concluded, Face > Peel began. Again, both new to my ears, but both had me dancing hard and Peel might very well be the highlight of the show. If you pick no other Mike song to listen to, this is the one.

Then Mike said "We have a guest" and referred to him as an "actor" as Trey came out and the place blew up. Trey brought an energy to the room that so few can. They talked for a little while and you could hear them discussing what song to play and I'm pretty sure I heard Trey say "Don't know that one" a couple of times with a smile on his face.
They ultimately settled on Cities, which is a complete departure from the way Phish plays it. The upbeat version was different, although a little hard on these ears that has only known one way to jam Cities. But, the common thread was Trey...and like always....Trey made his guitar sing beautifully.

After years of loving live music, I'm not a superfan to the point where I can't objectively evaluate music and - objectively - the second set started too rough for me. It was actually more in line with what I was expecting based upon Mike's past song writing ventures, though very jam friendly. That's not to say it wasn't fun, but the first set was much stronger to me. That changed as the set went on...starting about midway through Traveled Too Far. By the time the band returned to Tomorrow Never Knows, my feet were sore and I found myself wondering why Phish doesn't rock this song too. By the time they returned to Traveled Too Far, my feet were sore and I was fully immersed in a second set as good as any non-Phish set I've ever heard.

Say Something stood out in the second set closer role. I love this song. I came in hoping they would play it and it was justified....Mike nailed it and I hope Phish gives this song some mid-second-set treatment in 2014!

The Encore was the overall highlight for me. It was a dance party when my feet were too tired to dance. The music was too great and it overpowered my foot fatigue. When it was all said and done, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw how many songs they actually played that second set. Say Something was the only song in the second set that I was unfamiliar with and its a testament to the band that I couldn't stop dancing even without the slightest clue where each song was going.

In all, it was awesome to watch Mike as the band leader. His excitement was noticeable with the bouncing and the stage banter and the smile. And the multi-instrumentalist off on the side added a truly unique (for me) element to the band that gave me a whole new appreciation for bells and background sounds.

It was a great show, I'm so glad I went and I highly recommend people give this show a listen.

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